


Third Time's the Charm

by KaCole



Series: Aria's World [2]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: AU, Aria missing scene, F/M, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Romance, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 11:53:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16853521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaCole/pseuds/KaCole
Summary: While Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay were held in an AI matrix on an alien ship, they lived a whole life together. A life in which he proposed to her three times before she said yes. Here's how it happened...





	Third Time's the Charm

**Author's Note:**

> This is a missing scene (or three) from my story Aria. You probably don't have to have read Aria to appreciate this, but you might like to. Find it on my page or click the "previous story" link.

He was hot for her. So hot he'd burn up if he couldn't get more of her. He kissed her neck, his hands roaming everywhere but settling nowhere because there was just so much he wanted to explore. Mostly, he wanted to feel her skin against his, to take his sweet time, and actually see what he was doing for a change.

“We should get married and get our own place,” he said, breathlessly. 

She laughed. “You're crazy.” 

“No, I’m serious,” he said, trying to find a way to get his hands inside her blouse. He couldn't see the damn buttons in the dim garage and they dare not switch the lights on or they'd be seen from her parents house. “We could be together every night, instead of sneaking around and hiding out here.”

“And how would we pay the rent? I'm still in college and you're an apprentice.”

“I love you, Kathryn.” His voice betrayed the desperation he couldn't hide.

“I love you too,” she said, “But I'm not going to marry you yet.”

He hadn't really expected her to say yes, so he didn't let up kissing her neck. “So you will marry me, one day?”

She leant backwards and looked him in the eye. “By my way of thinking, we have plenty of time.” 

Then she kissed him again, her lips felt like fire and her tongue flicked dangerously into his mouth. 

He groaned, helpless with desire. He didn't  _ want _ to wait a single minute, but he knew if he had to he'd wait forever for Kathryn Janeway.

#

Three years later, she was a graduate student and he’d just secured a job as an artisan in one of the up and coming trade centres of New Frisco. They were part way through hiking a trail across the Appalachian mountains. Their walking companions were camped close by, and the deal was no mixed sleeping arrangements. He thought that was absurd but he wasn't about to break the rules, so he settled down with a book in his tent.

He'd almost dozed off to sleep when the dream came. They were far from home, living different lives. On some kind of spaceship. He assumed they were a military force as they all wore uniforms. Kathryn was there too, but always just beyond his reach. It was beautiful and terrifying and tragic. He jerked awake as his book slipped from his hand and onto his nose.

Kathryn, it seemed, thought no mixed sleeping arrangements was absurd too. She snuck into his tent with a grin. “Pleased to see me?” she whispered, unzipping his sleeping bag. 

“Very. But you shouldn't be here.” 

“Screw that,” she said, and turned off his reading light. She wore a t-shirt and soft shorts, and as she slipped alongside him in the darkness he quickly discovered she wasn't wearing anything else. He groaned as his hand worked under her shorts and against the bare flesh of her backside. 

She smothered his needy moans with a hot kiss. “Hush,” she said softly, then peeled back his shorts. In a moment she'd stripped off her own clothes and lay nude beside him. Then she flashed him a devilish grin, wiggled down his belly to take him in her mouth. 

He snatched a breath, and to keep from moaning he clamped his jaw shut. Every time she did this it drove him wild. He could never get enough of Kathryn, her mouth, her smooth skin, her soft places. Her smile. Her boldness and courage. She did everything in her life the way she was doing this to him now; with diligence and determination. It was so fucking hot. 

He couldn't imagine being without her even for a single day. It struck him then like a hammer into his heart: he could never want anyone else. He had to tell her. Convince her he was serious, but his brain was shutting down, and if she didn't stop he'd come in her mouth. She wouldn't mind, but he did. He wanted to see her. Hold her close. Kiss her. Somehow it became supremely important to look into her eyes.

“Kathryn,” he said in a strained voice. 

She looked up with pure mischief in her expression. Then she slid herself up his body kissing his belly, his chest and finally his lips. He ran his hands over her breasts, across her tummy, and slid as finger between her legs. 

He bit back a groan. “You're so wet.”

“Sucking your cock makes me wet,” she whispered in a throaty rasp. She guided herself down onto him, taking his length inside her. “But this makes me wetter.”  

He let her ride him, angling her body in the way she liked to get the friction she craved. She could always get herself off this way. She pretty soon started making too much noise, though. 

“Kathryn,” he hissed. “You'll wake the others. 

“I don't care,” she panted, with that wild look he loved.

He covered her mouth with his hand. “Hush!”

“Make me.” She got hold of his hands and pinned him beneath her. It was laughable really, the illusion of her tiny frame holding him down. The view was delightful, with her breasts swaying so close to his face. He let her carry on for a few minutes, until she started making raggedy moans, close to coming around his cock. He knew exactly how loud she could get, and once she went he would too.  

He brought his arms up and easily broke her grip, got his hands on her hips and swung her beneath him in one swift movement. He smothered her surprised gasp with a devastating kiss, pressing her hard to the sleeping bag. He kept up their frantic pace until she tipped over the edge, and he spilled himself into her.  

They lay joined in the darkness. The heat of the summer night on the mountain was intoxicating. Crickets chirriped in the silent evening air. 

“I love you,” she whispered into his ear, her heart beating frantically against him. “More than anything.”  

He wanted to tell her everything in his heart. How she was the sexiest thing he'd ever seen. How he admired her brains and tenacity. Her humour. Even her bossiness and the way she rolled her eyes when she thought no one was looking. He grasped for the words to describe the love filling his heart, to tell her he wanted her and no other, for the rest of his life. 

But he couldn't formulate what he needed to say. “Marry me,” he panted, holding her tight.  

She looked up at him. “I will. Chakotay. One day.”  

#              

Kathryn looked at Chakotay across the table. They were in an expensive restaurant in New Frisco. He'd just been made a junior partner in the bespoke furniture making enterprise he worked for. There was a decent living to be made from fitting out the homes of the wealthy. She was climbing the political ladder too. Her mentor told her she'll be running the state one day. 

Life seemed perfect, lately. The only odd thing was the dream. She didn't understand it. She would get flashes of another life, full of adventure and danger. Chakotay was there with her, which made things better until she realised they could never actually  _ be _ together. It was usually at that point she'd start awake. 

Tonight, Chakotay had seemed nervous. It was terribly endearing that he thought she didn't know about the ring in his pocket, and she wasn't going to let on. She’d been quietly waiting and wondering ever since she found the blue velvet box in his sock draw. She resisted opening it for a whole week, but in the end she caved in, and spent a whole twenty minutes staring at the exquisite diamond. That had been months ago. 

Several times tonight he seemed about to speak up, but then diverted the conversation into something innocuous. Perhaps getting her back for saying no twice already, but that really wasn't like him. He was not cruel, and he didn't hold grudges.

More likely he was afraid she'd say no again. 

They ordered dessert, and she peered carefully into her ice cream sundae. No ring hidden there. 

“Chakotay. How long have we known each other now?” she asked carefully, as she dug the spoon to the bottom of the glass dish. 

“Seven years.” He hadn't touched his dessert. His eyes were darting everywhere.  He tugged his ear. “Um. Do you want coffee?” It was an obvious deflection. His usually unruffled exterior cracked. His face flushed.

“I _always_ want coffee.” She took his hand across the table. “Do you know what else I always want?”

He shook his head, bemused, nervous. 

“You. Forever, till we’re old and grey.” 

His eyes were the darkest she'd ever seen them. Her heart hammered. Would he understand and take the hint? Surely he wasn't going to let the moment pass. 

He smiled and took a deep breath. 

She held hers, because she was furiously hoping he was about to propose, but even as he stood up she wasn't certain of what he'd do next. Her life seemed to spin out before her. All that mattered was that he was in it.

He dropped to one knee, and pulled the blue velvet ring box out of his pocket. He bit his lip, as if stealing himself. 

“Kathryn Janeway, will you marry me?” 

She had a little speech planned, but all she managed was a breathless “Yes”. She held out a trembling hand for him to slide the ring onto.  

People watched. She didn't care, and leaned forward to kiss him, throwing her arms around his neck. Somewhere a bottle of champagne popped. 

“I must admit,” he said as he retook his seat. “I was a little afraid you'd say no again. I picture my life without you some days. I can't stand it.”

“I think about that too,” she suppressed a shudder. “It's too awful to contemplate.” 

“Agreed.” He took her hand from across the table and kissed her palm, and smiled at her. “It's true what they say. Third time’s the charm.”

She really couldn't imagine a universe where they didn't love each other, and if there was such a place she didn't want to live in it. 

Everything was perfect right here. 

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate kudos and comments! X


End file.
